re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by Rand AlThor on 1/6/14 at 11:44 am to Roaad

1A: CB - worried about Greer. White is good but we need quality depth regardless. 1B: WR - we need a true WR1. Big, fast, physical. Perfect guy for where our pick will be is Jordan Matthews IMO. He's 6'3, fast and is very consistent.

I consider both of those needs equal. Interchangeable in the first two rounds.

3: Center - I think this is a greater need than this but it's foolish to take a Center in the first and there are 2-3 quality guys (Arkansas guy, Utah and FlSt guy) who will be there in the 2nd and 3rd

4: LB (mainly inside) - Hawthorne is not doing well. Lofton needs help, I expect more base 3-4 next season after we cut Roman and Malcolm

5: S - We need a 1-2 punch with KV

6: T - I believe TA is our future LT and I like Strief for his price. We just need depth, and hopefully we can groom a future guy since we're very good at it.

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by blueslover on 1/6/14 at 12:18 pm to Suntiger

quote:Do people think that he will get a big offer or that we won't match it?

The dollars are the question. Cheap enough, sure. Would be happy to let him walk for not a team friendly deal. Porter, Bushrod, Nicks, Goodwin, etc all walked primarily on the dollar amount not lack of allegiance or whether they liked them.

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by Zoombop on 1/6/14 at 12:23 pm to Rand AlThor

1. CB- Can't count on Greer to be back at all, much less start. Same goes for PRob. Darqueze Dennard is turning into my favorite player in this year's draft, and if he's available, he'd be a perfect fit for this defense.

2. WR- Colston, Moore, Meachem are all on the decline. The latter two probably won't be back. I love Stills, but I don't think he can be any more than a number 2 guy. Morgan and Toon are question marks. If a guy like Jordan Matthews, Allen Robinson, or Marqise Lee are available at our 1st pick, I'd consider them heavily.

3. S- Vaccaro is a stud. Jenkins isn't very good and is a FA. Harper is overpaid and really slowing down. Quddus and Bush are solid backups, but neither are starters. We need a ballhawk in the secondary most of all. Ha'sean Clinton-Dix is the only safety worth drafting in the 1st this year, and could actually make the biggest difference of any defensive player for us. He likely won't fall that far however.

4. DL- Not much behind Cam Jordan and Akiem Hicks. Glenn Foster and Tyrunn Walker have some talent, but they're still pretty green. Tom Johnson is just a guy. Bunkley is overpaid for his role. There are few defensive lines as promising as this one, but it would be wise to continue to add talent. Ra'shede Hageman is an option for the 1st. Will Sutton, Dominique Easley, and Deandre Coleman are considerations in later rounds.

5. C- DLP has had a very up and down season, but when Ben Grubbs or Jahri Evans don't have to help the tackles out as much, he does better. He's likely to be back considering his strong performance against Philly matched up with Fletcher Cox. There are 4-5 starting caliber centers in this draft. Swanson is my favorite, followed by Weston Richburg (Colo St.) and Bryan Stork (FSU).

6. LB- We have 5 good linebackers: Galette, Lofton, Hawthorne, Butler, and Humber. However, there's not enough speed from our non-rushing LBs. Kyle Van Noy of BYU is my top choice of those speedy, coverage-capable LBs. I also like Ryan Shazier. Both bring pass rush skills, but I question whether they're strong enough to play LB in the NFL and if they would be the best value available in the 1st round since I give both early to mid 2nd round graves.

7. KR/PR- Sproles does not have the speed or vision to be an impact player here anymore. De'Anthony Thomas is lightning in a bottle. If he's available in the 5th round, I would take him.

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by Zoombop on 1/6/14 at 1:01 pm to blueslover

quote:blueslover

I think Gilbert will have trouble making it out of the top-15, especially when the Combine rolls around. Dennard is 1a and he's 1b. I haven't watched much of Ekpre-Olomu, but from what I have seen, I'm not too impressed. Verrett, I feel will be available in the late 1st since he's not very big (will probably measure in at 5'9"). He's got good speed and blanket ability, but I need to do more research to convince myself of him.

Of the other 3 guys, the most I've done research on is Roberson, and I'm not impressed. I've seen bad form and bad guesses on routes. He struggles a lot with bigger receivers, too. Last year he was consistently toasted by Justin Hunter and Mike Evans. Bad hands as well. Plus he has attitude problems. I'll pass. Roby has talent, but the question surrounding him is his work ethic. I probably like Kyle Fuller the most thanks to VT's good track record with professional DBs.

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by Zoombop on 1/6/14 at 1:34 pm to floyd of pink

Okay looked at some games of Kyle Fuller and I'm impressed. He's very smart and able to read routes, QBs. He obviously studies tape well. Good size at 6' 195. Didn't notice a lot of press coverage, but his man coverage is quite good. He has smooth hips and breaks on the ball very well. He's a very willing tackler that possesses nice closing speed, getting to WRs on quick screens and taking their legs out before they get a chance. He's not afraid of big receivers either. He's a menace on special teams too as a threat off the edge and blocking on the move.

The only negative I saw was his lack of elite speed. He won't match up well with opposing number 1 or speed receivers because of this. Recovery speed is good enough if the ball is slightly under thrown, so he'll make the tackle if he's close enough, but he won't be a No. 1 corner in the NFL. In a tandem with Keenan Lewis though, I would enjoy that.

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by blueslover on 1/6/14 at 1:42 pm to Zoombop

I try to synthesize the scouting reports. Things commonly mentioned-

There’s no glaring area of weakness in Fuller’s coverage ability, as he is stout in standard man-to-man and press coverage. He has good movement skills and doesn’t let up on the player he’s covering. While his run defending skills are more pedestrian, he is able to come off blocks with ease and is a consistently good tackler.

Fuller comes from a great bloodline with two older brothers that also played college football, one of which is in the NFL right now. He also has a younger brother who plays for Virginia Tech. Fuller doesn’t have elite speed, but he plays with great aggression and instincts for the ball. He likes to play off man so he can jump routes when he reads them. Fuller plays well against the run and doesn’t care to lay a hit on a running back. Fuller has some room to add muscle to his frame if need be.

At times Fuller can be overaggressive and get burnt deep. He also doesn’t have elite speed to cover the speed demons of the world. That being said, he uses his instincts and smooth hips to cover the best of receivers well.

In conclusion Fuller is one of my favourite prospects in this year’s draft, mainly due to his propensity to be around the ball and make plays that really impact the game. Fuller is a very impressive physical specimen with long arms and an aggressive style of play. My main concern with Fuller is his propensity to being beaten deep due perhaps to a lack of long speed. There are however just too many things that I love about his game, like his physical style of man coverage and his willingness to play solid run defence. I think come draft season, Fuller will likely end up as an early second round pick with the potential for one of the smart teams drafting in the late first to fall in love with him.

Fuller’s game is similar to that of Jason McCourty of the Tennessee Titans. McCourty is a player with extremely similar dimensions and the same type of skill set. He is able to make plays on the football, has shown the ability to cause turnovers and played his college football at Rutgers which has put the same kind of emphasis on special teams that Virginia Tech has, so he is able to help in that facet of the game as well. ----------------------

might be a slight value push late 1st but he sounds like a perfect type that would elevate his value somewhat

re: What are the Saints greatest needs in the draft?Posted by whodidthat on 1/6/14 at 1:57 pm to blueslover

quote:I'm not on the 1st or 2nd Rd WR bandwagon. Stills led the frickin NFL in YPC. No reason why his numbers couldn't double next year. That would be 64rec 1282yds 10 TDs. Colston may be approaching decline but with him also we're basically stuck contractually until 2016. Lance is on my endangered list- 37 catches, turning age 31. Will cost $2.3mil to cut and save almost $3mil of cap. Plenty of attractive WRs 3rd Rd & later